Friday, May 09, 2008 JH Lhuillier chips in to boost RP tennis By Marian C. Baring Sun.Star Staff Reporter
IT IS a known fact that the government cannot, by itself, sustain the country’s entire sports program. That is why private individuals who pour in time and resources are one of the major reasons Filipino athletes are getting their much-needed attention.
Setting a perfect example for this is Jean Henri Lhuillier, who has been at the forefront for different sports in the country. And once Lhuillier sets his eyes on something, he sees it through to a successful finish.
“I am a true believer of how a private individual can help uplift the sporting arena in this country since the government could not do everything themselves,” said Lhuillier, who arrived last Monday to join the Cebuana Lhuillier Men’s Open Championship, which is his pet project.
Lhuillier, who played Division 1 college tennis in the US, has been supporting tennis for 15 years and is currently the team manager of the RP tennis squad who competed in the Davis Cup. Lhuillier was also the team manager of the team during the 23rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
The RP team had its best finish in the Davis Cup in many years and in 2005, the team was able to snatch gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games.
Lhuillier is also the top honcho of the nationals sports association for softball, whose RP Blu Boys had an impressive run in various competitions abroad.
As of the moment, Lhuillier is pushing to have softball in the roster of events for next year’s SEA Games, which will reportedly be scrapped by host Laos.
Lhuillier also had a team in the Philippine Basketball League and also supported the RP basketball team in various tournaments abroad.
Lhuillier also added that while he is a staunch supporter for a strong grassroots program in sports, he believes that it will be useless without competitions.
“That (grassroots program) is absolutely needed in any kind of sport. The drawback however is that our young athletes do not have enough opportunities to compete,” he added.
This is where the role of the private entities come in.
“I encourage everyone to come out and support our athletes. If there are no sponsors, there will not be any tournaments and how then can our athletes apply what they have learned?” he said.
Lhuillier also said that junior player Niño Alcantara, the world’s No. 73 player, is a potential big star.
“He just needs to be exposed to more high-level competitions,” Lhuillier added.
The 16-year-old Alcantara was booted out in the opening roung of the singles competition of the Cebuana Lhuillier Open in the opening round, but is still in contention in the doubles event.
As with his program for tennis, apart from the men’s open, Lhuillier is also supporting the USPTA coaches who come to the Philippines annually to certify Filipino professional players.
This year, according to Lhuillier is the most intensive of all the visits as they try to certify 30 to 40 coaches. The team will be going around Cagayan, Davao, Rizal and Subic. It skipped Cebu because they held the certification program here last year. (MCB)
